Ron Boots & Rudy Adrian – Across The Silver River

Rudy Adrian has garnered considerable attention with his solo ambient releases during the last few years. When New Zealander Adrian sent some of his new music to Ron Boots in the Netherlands, Boots was so taken by the work that he suggested a collaboration. “Across the Silver River” is the result of that creative conjunction.
While Adrian’s peaceful music has been favorably compared to Harold Budd and Brian Eno, Boots’ sonic work has spanned more than a decade and numerous styles of electronic composition. The fruit of a collaboration between these two talents offers a unique amalgamation of Adrian’s fluid sound with Boots’ mature infusing.
Ambient tones and drifting sonic airs unfurl and hover in the crisp sky, lovingly nudged by elegant piano passages. A distinctly pastoral flavor is evident in these serene soundscapes, transporting the listener to stately woodlands nestled between a mirrored river and majestic highlands. Pastures of halcyon chords are bathed in dawn’s vibrant illumination, releasing a gentle sense of power that lingers in the subconscious.
These delicate and evocative atmospherics merge with sinuous percussives which inject a softly energetic pace to the dreamy pieces. These rhythms are hardly demonstrative enough to overwhelm the melodic flow, adding instead a feathery propulsion that gives the ambience an aerial bounce as the heavenly music rides the morning breeze.
Tracks like “Forgotten Islands Rediscovered” excellently display this wondrous fusion of atmospheric power and regal percussives. While the electronic breezes waft with soothing and inspirational expressions, the genial tempos elevate the music to loftier altitudes with their benign resonance. A sense of environmental sovereignty is richly communicated. Nick Prosser joins Adrian and Boots on one track, lending his baroque flute to the forest of ambience.